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Reigning champion White began his title defence with a 4-1 victory over 1986 world professional champion Joe Johnson in the evening session.

Johnson defeated White here on his way to winning last year’s Seniors Masters, and the Yorkshireman briefly threatened a replay when he claimed a scrappy first frame of the match on the pink. However, ‘The Whirlwind’ managed to relax, making a 90 break to get on the board himself before racking up further contributions of 73, 41 and 71 to run out a 4-1 victor with an impressive 92% pot success rate.

In the competition’s curtain-raiser, 1997 world professional champion Ken Doherty survived a mid-match blip and a deciding frame climax to oust fellow Irishman Rodney Goggins 4-3.

‘The Darling of Dublin’ pounced on his opponent’s nervy start to take a 2-0 lead, but looking like going one frame away from progression, an unexpected miss from Doherty seemed to turn the match. Crucible debutant Goggins – who started the frame with a 41 – finished it with a 58 clearance to open his account and settle down. The former professional from Wexford continued to grow in confidence, winning the next two frames to go one away from producing an upset.

Well known for his determination when behind – especially at this venue – Doherty bounced back with a 68 to force a decider and then crafted a gutsy match-clinching break of 48 to ultimately go through.

“For a couple of frames there I was gone. I just tried to dig myself out of it and I was delighted with the 60 break in frame six and some of the pots at the end.” said Doherty to Rob Walker after the match.

Doherty is seeking to create history later this week by becoming the first person to win the world junior, amateur, professional and seniors championships.

After enduring a slow start to his match with Northern Ireland’s Patrick Wallace, 2011 winner and a further two-time finalist Darren Morgan found his groove with a string of soul boosting breaks to come through 4-2.

The former world number eight fashioned efforts of 73, 75 (twice) and a 70 in a frame that the Welshman lost on the black despite his opponent needing penalty points. Morgan – who will face Doherty in the quarter-finals – said “from nowhere it clicked”.

The final player to book a last eight berth was 2018 winner Canavan, who once again showed his baize battling qualities to overcome Leo Fernandez in a post-midnight finish.

Having started in the afternoon but pushed into an unscheduled second session, Fernandez led the match on three occasions but the Jersey cueist pegged him back each time, assisted by breaks of 69, 53 and a match-saving break of 30 to pink in frame six to take it all the way.

Canavan then scored first in the decider with a 48, and after his rival missed a routine red later on, he held his nerve to complete a dramatic recovery and avenge his loss to Fernandez here last year.

Fans around the world can watch the event live. For the first time the 16-player event will be broadcast live on BBC digital platforms with selected matches available on the ‘Red Button’. Coverage in China will be shown on major digital TV platforms and elsewhere the event will be available on the  Matchroom.Live network.

Go to Matchroom.Live to register. The Matchroom Live platform was launched in May, giving fans across the planet the chance to watch live content from the outstanding portfolio of Matchroom sports, including snooker, darts, boxing, pool and many more. There is also a wealth of classic archive content featuring great moments from the past 40 years.

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Played behind closed doors, for the first time the 16-player event will be broadcast live on BBC digital platforms with selected matches available on the ‘Red Button’. Coverage in China will be shown on major digital TV platforms and across the USA via the Matchroom.Live network.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on major sporting schedules all over the globe and although the World Seniors Snooker Tour (WSST) has not been immune either, it is able to stage its annual flagship tournament, building on the success of recent editions.

With certain international competitors unable to travel and qualifying events cancelled, this year’s qualification process has changed, but there is no substitute for the drama, entertainment and quality we expect throughout the four days in Sheffield.

The Top Half

Defending champion Jimmy White has been the dominant force on the seniors scene in recent years having collected several titles including the big one last summer at the Crucible after a tense 5-3 victory over Darren Morgan in the final. Aiming for a hat-trick of world seniors crowns – he also won it in 2010 – White begins against fellow Eurosport colleague Joe Johnson.

The pair last met here in 2019 during the Seniors Masters where Johnson won via a black ball tiebreaker. Like his 1986 world professional triumph, the Yorkshireman went on to defy the odds by lifting the trophy on that occasion too.

Former world number two Tony Knowles will strut his stuff on snooker’s grandest stage again when he faces Peter Lines. In a recent change to tour eligibility, world number 120 Lines earns his spot here by virtue of claiming this accolade in Scunthorpe in 2017 when he didn’t drop a frame en route.

Aaron Canavan was the somewhat unexpected victor in 2018 following a memorable comeback in the final. The Jersey cueist will be out for revenge when he faces Leo Fernandez in the first round. Attempting to retain the title here 12 months ago, Canavan was dethroned by former professional and English amateur champion Fernandez in the last eight.

Another duo with Crucible history are seven-time world professional champion Stephen Hendry and Nigel Bond, who is the fourth person in this half to have this title already on his resume.

Known as the ‘King of the Crucible’, Hendry owned this venue in the 1990s, denying Bond in the 1995 final and also getting the better of him in the semi-finals the subsequent year. Despite being a WSST regular, Hendry has yet to reach a final on it and there would be no better time to end that run than here.

World Seniors champion in 2012, 54-year-old Bond is still enjoying the sport’s top tier – an unbroken 31 years on since his debut debut – and will have fond memories of their last Crucible clash in 2006 when he memorably won 10-9 on a dramatic re-spotted black.

The Bottom Half

The first match in a distinctly Irish themed bottom half of the draw is an all-Republic clash between Ken Doherty and former main tour exponent Rodney Goggins.

Doherty – winner of the UK Seniors Championship in 2018 – will be looking to add a fourth segment to his world junior, amateur and professional championships portfolio. Second in the world seniors rankings, Goggins will be making his Crucible debut.

In yet another hard-to-call opening round affair, Wales’ 2011 champion and last year’s runner-up Darren Morgan will be seeking to go one further here but first has to negotiate 2018 defeated finalist Patrick Wallace. The Northern Irishman will be setting foot back in the arena for the first time since his run to the world professional quarter-finals over 19 years ago – his only previous appearance.

Two players ready for a big opportunity and their maiden Crucible berths are this season’s Super Seniors number one ranked player Gary Filtness and Sheffield’s own Wayne Cooper, who recently replaced Tony Drago after the Maltese legend made the difficult decision not to travel on health grounds.

Number two seed for this event, but number one in the world seniors rankings, Michael Judge will be a serious contender for this crown having won the UK Seniors Championship at the Bonus Arena in Hull back in October. Judge’s bid to complete a unique world and UK double starts with a meeting against 1985 world professional champion Dennis Taylor.

All matches throughout the championship are the best of seven frames, except for the final which will be the best of nine.

Follow updates here at wpbsa.com, or view tournament information online via WPBSA SnookerScores.

Article by Michael Day.

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Held across three days, over 80 players competed at the Newbury based venue, all vying for a coveted ticket into the main draw at the Crucible in August. Former main tour player Fernandez – who qualified for the 1999 world professional championship – won three of his opening four matches without dropping a frame, although he did require a decider in order to eliminate Andrew Milliard in the last 64. 

In the quarter-finals Fernandez trailed Welshman Rhydian Richards 2-0 before stringing together the next three frames to secure victory and set up a semi-final with Rory McLeod. There the 43-year-old started the match off with a tremendous 146 break and later recorded a 4-2 victory. 

His opponent in the final was Rodney Goggins, fresh from his recent appearance at the UK Seniors Championship in Hull. The Irishman highlighted his passage through with wins against Stuart Watson and Gary Filtness in the last eight and four respectively.  

Fernandez fashioned breaks of 63 and 72 to take the lead twice early in the final, but a run of 101 saw Goggins draw the tie level at 2-2. However, Fernandez chalked up frame five without reply and then frame six on the black to triumph 4-2. The success means an immediate return to the Crucible Theatre in the tournament for Fernandez having reached the semi-finals there only a few months ago. He joins former British Open champion Bob Chaperon who was the first to book a spot in Sheffield after emerging from the Toronto qualifying event last month. 

In the third ROKiTPhones.com Super Seniors event of the campaign, Richard Emery defeated 1977 UK Championship winner Patsy Fagan 2-0 in the final to claim his first title in the inaugural series. Englishman Emery had earlier denied Andrew Darken, event two runner-up Mike Hallett and event two winner Tony Knowles. Emery and Knowles shared the highest break of the day with efforts of 90. 

To view the full results from both events, please visit snookerscores.net here. 

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Leo Fernandez was the first player to book his place in the semi-finals in Sheffield after he ended the reign of defending champion Aaron Canavan with a 3-1 victory this afternoon.

It was Canavan who took a low-scoring opening frame to gain the early advantage, but from there it was all Fernandez, a run of 50 enough to see the Irishman draw level before he added the following two frames to seal victory.

Competing at the Crucible for the first time in 20 years since he played Ronnie O’Sullivan at the final world championship of the last millennium, Fernandez will next face Welshman Darren Morgan who overcame seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry to progress.

It was Hendry who made the stronger start by comfortably taking the opening frame, before 2011 winner Morgan turned the tables by taking two close frames, before he secured a 3-1 success with a break of 54.

In the bottom half of the draw the ever-popular Jimmy White emerged from a tense battle with amateur qualifier Stuart Watson as a 3-2 winner to keep his hopes of a second world seniors title alive.

A winner at the event back in 2010, the Whirlwind came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2, taking the final frame in dramatic fashion as Watson potted the final green, before seeing the cue ball come across the table and knock the black into a corner pocket, immediately drawing a concession.

Jimmy will now face Thailand’s James Wattana in the last four, after the Thai legend ended the run of Chinese amateur qualifier Chen Gang with a 3-1 victory.

The action resumes at 2pm on Sunday with the two semi-finals, prior to the championship match from 7pm.

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• View all the draw and full results at snookerscores.net

The culmination to the 2018/19 ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Tour, the championship will feature 20 players representing 14 different nations and five continents, each of whom are aiming to lift the iconic trophy and pocket the £25,000 first prize

Over the past nine months, several qualifying events open to all amateur players aged 40 or above have taken place in Europe, North America and Asia. These qualifiers will line up alongside the seeded star names, wildcards, national and continental nominations in the draw.

Top Half

Reigning champion Aaron Canavan will begin his title defence with a tricky tie against Hong Kong’s experienced Au Chi Wai, who came through the competitive Chinese qualifying event in Beijing.

The Jersey cueman enjoyed the best moment of his career last year in Scunthorpe when he came from behind to pip Patrick Wallace on a tie-breaker black in the final. Elsewhere in the top quarter, former professional Leo Fernandez faces the current Dutch national champion Joris Maas – winner of the Toronto qualifying event.

World professional champion in 1991, John Parrott returns to the scene of his greatest triumph to play either Willie Thorne or Darren Morgan; one of four preliminary round ties. Winner of this title in 2011, Morgan will be fancied by many to do well in Sheffield as he remains active and very successful on the amateur scene both at home and abroad.

Completing the top half is the ‘King of the Crucible’ Stephen Hendry. The seven-time world champion used to ‘own’ this venue in the nineties; he will be hoping to reignite that bullishness again as he tries to kick-start a seniors career that has not yet seen the Scot return to winning ways. Meeting him in the last 16 will be one of the sport’s most well-known non-UK players – Malta’s Tony Drago or Oceania nomination Dene O’Kane from New Zealand.

Bottom Half

Just four months ago Joe Johnson overcame the odds at the Crucible once again when he lifted the Seniors Masters trophy.

The 67-year-old, who memorably won snooker’s biggest accolade in 1986 when he outplayed Steve Davis in the final, is also guaranteed to play an ‘overseas’ player in the form of either Asia’s first ranking event winner and superstar James Wattana or Egyptian Wael Talaat, three times an African champion.

Former world champion Cliff Thorburn knows what it is like to win at the Crucible in different periods having preceded Johnson as the Seniors Masters title holder. The Canadian will discover his opponent when former world number two Tony Knowles and Chinese nomination Chen Gang open the tournament up on Thursday morning.

In the final quarter of the draw, Dennis Taylor – the fifth and final world professional champion in the event – will cross cues with Stuart Watson, who emerged from the Jersey qualifier last  November.

Jimmy White, for whom the Crucible harbors so many bittersweet memories, will be trying to claim his second world seniors championship following victory in 2010.

Evergreen White and his legion of fans would dearly love him lift a trophy here, and the signs should be positive after securing consecutive titles at the Irish Seniors Masters and Seniors 6-Red World Championship earlier this term.

However, he will have a stern test when going up against Welshman Rhydian Richards in round one; the first qualifier to have booked their berth in Sheffield.

In a change to last year’s edition, there will be no tie-breaker black should the scores reach 2-2, or 3-3 in the final. The entire 2019 ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Championship will be shown live on FreeSports TV and on SuperStar Online in China.

Women’s, Disability Sessions

The event will also see special sessions staged during the final weekend to promote the activities of World Women’s Snooker and World Disability Billiards and Snooker. Taking place at 10:00am on Saturday 17^th and Sunday 18^th August respectively, each session will see four leading players from each tour compete at the home of snooker.

Tickets for these sessions are still available for just £1.47 when purchased with a full-price ticket to a session of the ROKiT World Seniors Snooker Championship.

Tickets for all sessions are available here: http://bit.ly/SheffieldSeniorsTickets

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